It is good because it saves from a thousand snares. Lamentations 3 - Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible - Bible When the Lord has not commanded it? If inward impressions be not in some measure answerable to outward expressions, we do but mock God and deceive ourselves. Are we healthful or sickly, rich or poor? It will make our duty the more acceptable to God, and easy to ourselves, if we engage in it when we are young. The sovereign God alone can revive it. David Guzik :: Study Guide for Lamentations 3 When nations go through times of tragedy and tribulation, the greatest suffering always takes place at the individual level. (Ryken), iii. Fear not. English Standard Version. 2. Note, Whatever hard things we suffer, we must never entertain any hard thoughts of God, but must still be ready to own that he is both kind and faithful. Thou hast removed my soul Prosperity is at such an utter distance from me, that it is impossible I should ever reach it; and as to happiness, I have forgotten whether I have ever tasted of it. The poet said in effect, that he has had so little of this worlds goods and pleasures because his share has been the Lord. (Ellison). That, when God returns to deal graciously with us, it will not be according to our merits, but according to his mercies, according to the multitude, the abundance, of his mercies. They look upon the Jewish nation as dead and buried, and imagine that there is not possibility of its resurrection. Verse 57. It is evident that in the preceding verses there is a bitterness of complaint against the bitterness of adversity, that is not becoming to man when under the chastising hand of God; and, while indulging this feeling, all hope fled. Surely He has turned His hand against me: Jeremiah did not stay in this dark and desperate place, but he would not deny being there. He has bent His bow In the process of remembering Gods attributes, Jeremiah was drawn back into living fellowship and intimate communion with his faithful God. (Ryken). Yes, he did: Thou hast heard my voice; and some read the following words as carrying on the same thankful acknowledgment: Thou didst not hide thy ear at my breathing, at my cry; and the original will bear that reading. Verses Lamentations 3:46, Lamentations 3:47, Lamentations 3:48, Lamentations 3:46-48, beginning with phe, should, as to the order of the alphabet, follow 49, 50, 51, Lamentations 3:49-51, which begin with ain, which in its grammatical position precedes the former. Verse Lamentations 3:65. 1 I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. A verification email has been sent to the address you provided. c. Because His compassions fail not: Even in the severity of correction Gods people endured, there was evidence of His compassions. In 1, 2, and 4, each of the 22 verses begins with a successive letter of the Greek alphabet. These past deliverances created his assurance that Jehovah would yet act on behalf of His people and destroy their enemies from under the heavens. (Morgan), 2021 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik ewm@enduringword.com, The Whole Bible with bitterness and hardship. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; 5 he has besieged . God never hides His ear from our breathing; or from those in- articulate cries, which express, as words could not do, the deep anguish and yearning of the heart. in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. Theirs is causeless, and therefore fruitless, it shall not come; but thine is just, and shall take effect. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; he forms the light and creates the darkness, as he did at first. If tribulation work patience, that patience will work experience, and that experience a hope that makes not ashamed. (great love [mercies]), the covenant love and loyalty of the Lord that leads to rahamim (compassion, mercy), derived from re?em (womb). (Ellison), ii. We must offer up ourselves to God, and our best affections and services, in the flames of devotion, v. 41. The soft, measured breath, or the laboring, gasping breath. It is very applicable to the yoke of God's commands. Yet. But the complaints here are somewhat more general than those in the foregoing chapter, being accommodated to the case as well of particular persons as of the public, and intended for the use of the closet rather than of the solemn assembly. And turn back to the LORD; O Lord, You have pleaded the case for my soul; Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? He has also broken my teeth with gravel: What a figure to express disgust, pain, and the consequent incapacity of taking food for the support of life; a man, instead of bread, being obliged to eat small pebbles till all his teeth are broken to pieces by endeavouring to grind them. He has made me desolate. But here it seems to be meant of the yoke of affliction. a. The Septuagint and Vulgate seem to have read "From under heaven, O Jehovah:" and the Syriac reads, "Thy heavens, O Jehovah!" It is sin that makes the cup of affliction a bitter cup. Wherever God leaves life, He leaves hope. We are men, and not children that cry for every thing that hurts them. Every morning brings new forgiveness for new sins. (2.) Time and time again throughout the day. To every mourner we may say, on the authority of God, Fear not! A mother listens for the breathing of her babe in the dark. Note, The church of God is like Moses's bush, burning, yet not consumed; whatever hardships it has met with, or may meet with, it shall have a being in the world to the end of time. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed Being thus humbled, and seeing himself and his sinfulness in a proper point of view, he finds that God, instead of dealing with him in judgment, has dealt with him in mercy; and that though the affliction was excessive, yet it was less than his iniquity deserved. You have heard their reproach, O LORD, II. Let us search and try our ways, search what they have been, and then try whether they have been right and good or no; search as for a malefactor in disguise, that flees and hides himself, and then try whether guilty or not guilty. Have perished from the LORD.. The Lord is my portion Psalms 119:57. Note, Men are but tools which the great God makes use of, and manages as he pleases, in the government of this lower world; and they cannot accomplish any of their designs without him. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. "Let them be dealt with according to the threatenings: Thy curse unto them; that is, let thy curse come upon them, all the evils that are pronounced in thy word against the enemies of thy people, v. 65. Let us search How are we to get the pardon of our sins? Let him sit alone and keep silent: Under adversity, it is best to not try and figure everything out right away. i. Note, The prolonging of troubles is sometimes a temptation, even to praying people, to question whether God be what they have always believed him to be, a prayer-hearing God. 1. We must keep silence under the yoke as those that have borne it upon us, not wilfully pulled it upon our own necks, but patiently submitted to it when God laid it upon us. If men injure them by force of arms, God does not approve of that. God will plead thy cause, and redeem thy soul. Are we punished for our sins? Earlier in this chapter, Jeremiah felt God was his adversary (Lamentations 3:1-18). Because God has laid it on him; Thus Ezekiel saw it, in vision, a valley full of dead and dry bones. In chapter 3, every third of the 66 verses begins with successive Greek letters. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point (2.) He has besieged me If hope become impatient, faith will be impossible: for who can believe for his salvation when his mind is agitated? Verse 26. He has turned His hand against me: A metaphor from buffeters, who double their blows, beating their adversaries on both sides, as the smith doth his red hot iron upon the anvil till he hath shaped it. (Trapp). Fear and a snare Jeremiah 48:13. Lamentations 3:21-23. Verse 30. Shall a man complain? They complain of the contempt of their neighbours and the reproach and ignominy they were under (v. 45): "Thou hast made us as the off-scouring, or scrapings, of the first floor, which are thrown to the dunghill." They were under Gods severe discipline, and that because of their deep and persistent sin. We are men, and not gods, subjects, not lords; we are not our own masters, not our own carvers; we are bound and must obey, must submit. They had several times complained that God had not pitied (ch. He gets good by the yoke who puts his mouth in the dust, not only lays his hand upon his mouth, in token of submission to the will of God in the affliction, but puts it in the dust, in token of sorrow, and shame, and self-loathing, at the remembrance of sin, and as one perfectly reduced and reclaimed, and brought as those that are vanquished to lick the dust, Ps 72 9. But these and similar expressions in the following verses may be merely metaphorical, to point out their straitened, oppressed, and distressed state. (Clarke), ii. Words of comfort to God's people when they are in trouble and distress, ver 21-36. 9. (Lamentations 3:48-51) Weeping over destruction. Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. 51 Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. I forget prosperity; it is so long since I had it, and so unlikely that I should ever recover it, that I have lost the idea of it. They have created us a great deal of vexation; now, Lord, give them sorrow of heart (v. 65), perplexity of heart" (so some read it); "let them be surrounded with threatening mischiefs on all sides, and not be able to see their way out. This is here laid down as a great truth, which will help to quiet our spirits under our afflictions and to sanctify them to us. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. 7. God had been for him, but no "Surely against me is he turned (v. 3), as far as I can discern; for his hand is turned against me all the day. Who could be preserved in the night, if the Watchman of Israel ever slumbered or slept? There are times when the only thing a sufferer can do is wait for God. 6. That God has compassions and comforts in store even for those whom he has himself grieved. (Lamentations 3:30-36) The goodness of God even in His justice. He that knows all things knew, (1.) 3 He has turned his hand against me. Things are bad but they might have been worse, and therefore there is hope that they may be better. a. Desolation and destruction. You drew near: Jeremiah seems to record this fact with a considerable amount of surprise. General Epistles These are the two things which our afflictions should put us upon. 1 Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament, 334.LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush affirm that Some rabbis also used the name Qinot, meaning 'funeral dirges' or 'lamentations (Old Testament Survey, 617).2 LaSor, Hubbard, and Bush, Old Testament Survey, 617.. 3 Hill and Walton write, The despairing tone of the petition for national renewal in the closing lines of the final poem (5 . Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Observe here, 1. (Lamentations 3:27-29) Hope for the silent soul. 2. That woe and well-being proceed? b. That he is as one sorely afflicted both in body and mind. He has not only failed in his dutyhis own suffering has left him without peace, happiness, energy, or hope (verses 17-18). Verse 36. i. Luke-Acts Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed, Till the LORD from heaven Verse 29. "Lamentations: The Expositor's Bible Commentary" Volume 6 (Isaiah-Ezekiel) (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1985), Harrison, R.K. "Jeremiah and Lamentations: An Introduction and Commentary" Volume 20 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), Meyer, F.B. How great soever his affliction may be, he is still alive; therefore, he may seek and find mercy unto eternal life. That God appears against him as an enemy, as a professed enemy. They had not the assurance and comfort of the pardon; the judgments brought upon them for their sins were not removed, and therefore they thought they could not say the sin was pardoned, which was a mistake, but a common mistake with the people of God when their souls are cast down and disquieted within them. Due thoughts of the evil of sin, and of our own sinfulness, will convince us that it is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. To crush under ones feet GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point Distressed soul! What have I contributed to the public flames?" Mine eye runneth down I weep incessantly. Lamentations Chapter 3 Kjv - King James Bible Online One can scarcely read this description without feeling the toothache. It is the heart that God looks at in that and every other service; for what will a sacrifice without a heart avail? The prophet here seems to check himself for the complaint he had made in the former part of the chapter, wherein he seemed to reflect upon God as unkind and severe. He is not quarrelsome, nor apt to resent injuries; he suffers long and is kind. Johannine Writings Against all the despair, Jeremiah proclaimed to himself and all others the goodness of hope and patient seeking of God. Note, The Israel of God, though children of light, sometimes walk in darkness. 2. "When I have lost all I have in the world, liberty, and livelihood, and almost life itself, yet I have not lost my interest in God." Verse 40. Perhaps they had some tune or play, some opera or interlude, that was called the destruction of Jerusalem, which, though in the nature of a tragedy, was very entertaining to those who wished ill to the holy city. Title. Thou saidst, Fear not. He will deliver his people from every trouble, and revive his church from every persecution. Minor Prophets He delights not in the misery of any of his creatures, but, as it respects his own people, he is so far from it that in all their afflictions he is afflicted and his soul is grieved for the misery of Israel. Have opened their mouths against us. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath, He has led me and made me walk in darkness, He has been to me like a bear lying in wait, My strength and my hope have perished from the LORD, My soul still remembers and sinks within me, This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope, Through the LORDs mercies we are not consumed, The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him, It is good that he should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD, It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth, Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, according to the multitude of His mercies, For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men, To turn aside the justice due a man before the face of the Most High. Lamentations 3 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary; Christian. Verse 7. Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? You have moved my soul far from peace; We read it as a petition for further audience: Hide not thy ear. If you turn to the life of Whitfield our great and mighty Whitfield in more modern times, what was his character? We are men, and not brutes, reasonable creatures, who should act with reason, who should look upward and look forward, and both ways may fetch considerations enough to silence our complaints. Of all the men who lived through that terrible period, no one had a better right to say this than Jeremiah. i. He had heard their prayers; though they had been ready to fear that the cloud of wrath was such as their prayers could not pass through (v. 44), yet upon second thoughts, or at least upon further trial, they find it otherwise, and that God had not said unto them, Seek you me in vain. a. To crush under his feet He can neither gain credit nor pleasure in trampling upon those who are already bound, and in suffering; such he knows to be the state of man here below. And surrounded me with bitterness and woe. Does the Bible Condemn Using Tarot Cards? The New Testament How powerful is this word when spoken by the Spirit of the Lord to a disconsolate heart. Pauline Epistles That they were satisfied that God's gracious regard to them in their miseries would be an effectual redress of all their grievances. Note, Though we are cast into ever so low a dungeon, we may thence find a way of access to God in the highest heavens. 3. To pierce my loins: Literally, kidneys. He retains his kindness for his people even when he afflicts them. "One addressed the caliph Aaly, and said, 'If the heavens were a bow, and the earth the cord thereof; if calamities were arrows, man the butt for those arrows; and the holy blessed God the unerring marksman; where could the sons of Adam flee for succour?' In darkness and not in light. God is an inexhaustible fountain of mercy, the Father of mercies. Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. again and again, all day long. The Chaldeans said that they would destroy Jerusalem, and it came to pass, not because they said it, but because God commanded it and commissioned them to do it. Approveth not, lo raah, doth not see, turns away his face from it, abhors it. God's ear is wont to be open to the prayers of his people, and his door of mercy to those that knock at it; but now both are shut, even to one that cries and shouts. (Lamentations 3:1-9) The man afflicted by the LORD. And my hope That first, that last support of the miserable-it is gone! Yet the consideration of Gods sovereignty would also become the source of their hope. This may refer to the prophet's personal experience, with which he encourages himself in reference to the public troubles. The malice they had against him: "Thou hast seen all their vengeance, how they desire to do me a mischief, as if it were by way of reprisal for some great injury I had done them." 4. Our Lord Jesus has left us an example of this, for he gave his back to the smiter, Isa 50 6. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Use semicolons to separate groups: 'Gen;Jdg;Psa-Mal' or 'Rom 3-12;Mat 1:15;Mat 5:12-22', There are options set in 'Advanced Options', The Whole Bible Let us lift our hearts and hands We are afflicted by the rod of his wrath, but it is of the lord's mercies that we are not consumed, v. 22. Every morning brings new provision for the day. and has broken my bones. I do not see that we gain any thing by this. Peculiarities Commentary on Lamentations 3:22-33 - Working Preacher from Luther Seminary He was overwhelmed like a man drowning in a pit (the waters flowed over my head). Lamentations 3:19 Commentaries: Remember my affliction and my wandering These streams followed up to the fountain: It is of the Lord's mercies. He shuts out my prayer. The stanzas consist of three lines, each of which begins with the same Hebrew letter. You drew near on the day I called on You, i. An Introduction to the Book of Lamentations | Bible.org Jeremiah proposes his own experience under afflictions, as an example as to how the Jews should behave under theirs, so as to have hope of a restoration; hence the change from singular to plural ( Lamentations 3:22 Lamentations 3:40-47 ). If you cannot speak, cry, sob, or groan, then be still. Formerly he inflicted punishments with reluctance, while there was any hope of amendment: but, in the instance before us, the case was so hopeless, that God acts according to the simple principle of vindictive justice. I make to return to my heart (so the margin words it); what we have had in our hearts, and have laid to our hearts, is sometimes as if it were quite lost and forgotten, till God by his grace make it return to our hearts, that it may be ready to us when we have occasion to use it. Verse 33. Those that do so will find it good for them (v. 26): It is good (it is our duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction) to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord, to hope that it will come, thought the difficulties that lie in the way of it seem insupportable, to wait till it does come, though it be long delayed, and while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling with God nor making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing in the divine disposals. 1:6 . Where there was a way open it is now quite made up: He has compassed me on ever side with gall and travel; I vex, and fret, and tire myself, to find a way of escape, but can find none, v. 7. A man's heart devises his way; he projects and purposes; he says that he will do so and so (Jam 4 13); but the Lord directs his steps far otherwise than he designed them, and what he contrived and expected does not come to pass, unless it be what God's hand and his counsel had determined before to be done, Prov 16 9; Jer 10 23. The more the prophet looked on the desolations, the more he was grieved. Give them sorrow of heart They shall have a callous heart, covered with obstinacy, and thy execration. He delights not in the death of sinners, or the disquiet of saints, but punishes with a kind of reluctance. a. Without interruption, 48 Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. He hath covered me with ashes. 3. thou hast seen my wrong, that I have done no wrong at all, but suffer a great deal." The Hebrew exclamation ekah2 ("How," which expresses "dismay"), used in 1:1; 2:1, and 4:1, gives the book its Hebrew title. That, whatever sorrow we are in, it is what God has allotted us, and his hand is in it. 2. The sufferings of the people of Judah are described as though one man had experienced them. Our hearts must go with our prayers. Here we find a different feeling; he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, and then his hope revives. (Clarke). The enemies, having taken some of them like a bird in a snare, chased others as a harmless bird is chased by a bird of prey (v. 52): My enemies chased me sorely like a bird which is beaten from bush to bush, as Saul hunted David like a partridge. But the weakest believer is wrong, if he thinks that his strength and hope are perished from the Lord. But for hope, the heart would break. God can interpret all. (Meyer). You have seen all their vengeance, Note, All the events of divine Providence are the products of a divine counsel; whatever is done God has the directing of it, and the works of his hands agree with the words of his mouth; he speaks, and it is done, so easily, so effectually are all his purposes fulfilled. Here he began to write as the voice of an individual sufferer. Clarke, Adam "Clarke's Commentary: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with a Commentary and Critical Notes" Volume 4 (Isaiah-Malachi) (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1827), Ellison, H.L. The Gospels 4. He hath filled me with bitterness bimrorim, with bitternesses, bitter upon bitter. This intimates, (1.) 4. The daughters of my city. And we must thus humble ourselves, if so be there may be hope, or (as it is in the original) peradventure there is hope. 5. Verse 31. He and many others had seen affliction, and they knew that it came as Gods discipline (the rod of His wrath). 9 He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. However, while Job dealt with unexplained evil, Jeremiah lamented a tragedy entirely of Jerusalem's making. Repay them, O LORD, 16 He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. i. That, when God does cause grief, it is for wise and holy ends, and he takes not delight in our calamities, v. 33. The Whole Bible Bad as things are, it is owing to the mercy of God that they are not worse. Verse 17. Jeremiahs personal lament is a reminder that suffering is always personal. 2. Verse 15. The prophet once more utters this complaint in the first person, because he who has risked his life in his endeavour to keep the people in the service of God must feel the deepest sympathy for them in their misfortunes. Like many psalms (see Psalms 22 and 88 for examples), the poem begins with painful and heartfelt statements about the horrors of the author (Lamentations 3:1-20). 5 He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. And here are two things with which he comforts himself:, I. The distemper was in continual extremity, and they had no better day. He is the Most High, whose authority over them they contemn by abusing their authority over their subjects, not considering that he that is higher than the highest regardeth, Eccl 5 8. All the prisoners of the earth By the prisoners of the earth, or land, Dr. Blayney understands those insolvent debtors who were put in prison, and there obliged to work out the debt. He has mingled gravel with my bread, so that my teeth are broken with it (v. 16) and what I eat is neither pleasant nor nourishing. Lamentations 3 The scope of this chapter is the same with that of the two foregoing chapters, but the composition is somewhat different; that was in long verse, this is in short, another kind of metre; that was in single alphabets, this is in a treble one. When those who are afflicted in their youth accommodate themselves to their afflictions, fit their necks to the yoke and study to answer God's end in afflicting them, then they will find it good for them to bear it, for it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are thus exercised thereby. - Universal Beginnings (Chuck Missler), God was like the judge, giving a cup of judgment and. d. You have made us an offscouring and refuse: In the desire to turn back to the LORD, Jeremiah knew that it was important to honestly see their condition. Our website uses cookies to store user preferences.
lamentations 3 explained